PUP CHEWING / BITE INHIBITION
by Lyn Richards
DogLogic.com
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When pups play, they spend much of their time biting and chewing each other. This is normal puppy behavior. Human skin is much more sensitive that of a pup, and it really hurts when they bite us, so we must teach pups that it is unacceptable to continue this behavior in the human pack. Another reason for stopping this behavior, is that pups learn to "dominate" with this behavior as they get older, and this causes problems in the family pet home.

Puppies chew/play bite for many other reasons.  The most common one is that they cutting new teeth.  This is not only painful for the pup, but it can also be uncomfortable for the pup to have loose things hanging in his mouth!  Gnawing on things helps soothe the gums around the teeth, and loosen teeth as well. Many baby teeth are chewed and swallowed along with whatever they else the puppy is chewing, so do not be alarmed when they go "missing".

Most dogs will eventually outgrow misbehavior if it isn't allowed to develop. This includes inappropriate chewing and biting behaviors.

Anytime a puppy is biting/mouthing you, say "ouch" and immediately stop interacting with the pup. This is very important when playing with the pup, as well. This lets the puppy know that the biting is unacceptable, and attention stops when he does it. This method is called "OUCH" and  every family member should learn to do it. The "OUCH" noise is meant to startle him into stopping the chew/biting, then give him something he can chew on, and when he chews on the replacement object, praise him with "YES, good puppy!"

If you anticipate a bite (see it coming) say "OFF" before the puppy can mouth you. If the pup is trying to get you to play with him, ask yourself, "Do I have time to play  with the puppy now?" If you do, then do puppy push-ups first, or other positive 'lure and reward' training FIRST (for a few seconds), then play. If the answer is "No, I don't have time for the puppy, right now." Then you need to do a time out (crate the puppy), so the puppy can't continue to mouth you. Time outs are much more humane than yelling at a puppy.

It is necessary to teach a puppy NOT to mouth, and it is easy to do IF you make it FUN. Hold a handful of tiny treats, say "puppy take it" with a happy tone, and give the puppy one treat. Hide the rest of the treats in your closed fist and say "leave it" in that same happy tone. Once the pup waits a few seconds without touching your hand, say "puppy take it" and once again treat and praise. This exercise teaches the pup the command "leave it". You should also teach the pup to "wait" for a few seconds after his food bowl is placed on the floor, in conjunction with the "leave it" command, to avoid food dish aggression in the future.

QUESTION: I am planning to get a puppy and am researching training methods. Recently I saw someone walking a dog and as the dog did certain things the trainer said, "YES" and gave the dog a treat.  Could you explain in a little more detail what that is about?

ANSWER:  Sure, it's the cornerstone of learning theory.  Don't worry, I'm not going to get too academic here but if you understand a little of the theory you can apply it yourself to a myriad of situations.

The "YES" is a marker.  The moment a desired behavior happens you mark the behavior.  The marker then causes a reward to appear.  Remember that the marker does not generate a behavior, rather it signals, to the dog, exactly what made you so happy you were willing to give a reward.

To mark behavior you can use any word or sound that is quick and relatively novel.  I like using a clicker as a marker.  A clicker is a small plastic box with a thin metal strip attached at one end.  When you press on the unattached end of the metal strip it makes a  click sound on the way down and again as the metal moves back into the original position.

A quick verbal "YES" or other quick sound will do just as well.  I do not recommend the use of the term "Good Boy" because it takes too long to say  and later the term "Good Boy" may be the reward.  A moving  dog  could perform at least 3-5 behaviors in the time it takes you to say the words so it becomes very difficult to pinpoint, in the dog's mind, why the reward was
produced.  Remember that the behavior causes the marker sound and the marker sound causes the reward to happen.

The easiest way to understand this process is to take a puppy who knows nothing and watch it.  Don't say anything just watch for behaviors.  When you see the behavior you like (let's say sit) you click and give the pup a treat.  I like to toss the treat away from the pup so it has to get out of the sit position to get the treat.  It will run out and grab the goodie then it's attention will probably focus on  you.  Pups at this point will frequently run over and beg for another treat.

Do nothing, just wait.  The pup will get bored with you very rapidly and start looking for something else to do.  When the pup sits again, no matter why, click and offer the treat.  You can almost see the little gears working in the pup's mind…, "Hummm, this is interesting, I wonder why THAT happened!"   Within a very few minutes the pup will be sitting again and
again and again because you have made sitting a very successful behavior.

Practice this game with your puppy for about a week in lots of locations. Once the pup is offering sits in lots of new places and you are able to predict when the pup will sit, attach the cue word, "sit" to the behavior.

QUESTION:  Wait a minute!  I don't understand this!  Why don't you use the word "sit" as you are teaching the dog to sit?

ANSWER:  This is very different from the "traditional technique" but think of it this way; your dog already knows how to sit,  we are teaching  the word, "sit" as a cue when to perform the behavior.

I used to teach the other way but found that "sit" almost always became a 3-5 syllable word and often the tone owners used became harsher with each syllable…. "sit, Sit, SIT, SIT!, SIT!!!!!!!!"  So what were we teaching the dog?  Sit when the word is said the 5th time in a nasty voice?

QUESTION: So doesn't it help the dog to tell it what you want it to do?

ANSWER:  Let me pose a question to you.  If you are trying to add some figures in your head is it helpful for someone to be saying numbers out loud?  Pretty confusing isn't it?  How many times will you have to start over?

If the dog does not know to sit how helpful is it to yammer at it?  Id rather set my dog up to succeed and I have found that being quiet is much more successful.  Since I am quiet I tend to be a bit calmer and  more patient.

QUESTION:  OK, I think I'm beginning to understand.  But, what if you then say "sit" and the dog does not do it?  Do you then punish the dogs refusal?

ANSWER:  Great question.   This will happen, especially when the cue is still quite new and/or the dog is young.

No I do not punish the "refusal".  Lets use the math analogy again.  If a student miscalculated a math problem is punishment appropriate?  No, the student needs to figure out where s/he made the mistake, correct it, and practice more problems of a similar nature.

The dog does not "refuse"… It simply has not yet learned the connection between the cue and the behavior well enough.  Perhaps it was distracted (so common with the pup or adolescent) or perhaps it has not generalized the behavior to this situation.

The point about generalization is very important to training dogs.  We humans are generalists.  Ill use the math analogy again;  teach someone to add and subtract and s/he is capable of balancing a checkbook.  Dogs do not generalize.  Teach a dog to "sit" while you are standing up.  Have repeated success.  The dog "knows how to sit when asked", right?  Nope!  Stand behind the dog and ask the dog to "sit" and guess what?  It acts as if you said a word it has never heard before.  Do you have a dumb dog?  No!  Your dog understands the cue in a specific circumstance- if you stand and face the dog and ask it to "sit",  it sits.   When you are behind the dog the contingencies are different to the dog.  It can follow orders only when it
understands them and this ‘does not compute’.

So, rather than punishing the dog I'm going to use a marker that means, "I'm not going to reward that."  This is used in a neutral tone.  I like, "Nope", or "That's not it" or "Try again" .  Some trainers use, "Wrong" but I find this word can be easily said in a negative tone so I don't use it.

The dog learns that one of two things will happen when you ask it to perform a behavior.  It will get a rewarding marker, followed by a reward or it will get a non-rewarding marker and nothing happens.

QUESTION:  So this means Ill have to carry treats or other rewards around for the rest of this dogs life?  I have to keep marking and rewarding forever?

ANSWER:  No.  After a behavior has been taught and well learned you can stop with the clicking and the treating but you never stop with the rewards! Consider all the things a dog likes and put them all in your reward category.  Ask the dog to "sit" and it does, make eye contact and say, "Good Boy!" - that's two rewards right there.

Other great rewards include, but are not limited to:  touching, producing a toy, allowing the dog to finish an interrupted behavior, having the opportunity to play with other dogs or run free in the dog park, getting into the car to go for a ride, and even something as simple as going out the
door.

Sometimes reviewing the training process will be necessary.  Ill use another math analogy here.  If I asked you to perform a simple algebraic calculation 6 months after you got an "A" in Algebra, might you have to review the subject and brush up your skills?   It's the same with dogs. They forget, just like we do. So refresher exercises will be warranted every so often.

QUESTION:  It sounds like Ill be training this dog for the rest of it's life!

ANSWER:  Yep!  That's the package.  Behavior is not static.  Behavior changes.  That's the good news AND the bad news.  The good news is that if your dog is doing something you don't like, the behavior can probably be changed.  The bad news is that the skills you teach today may be lost without reinforcement.

This does NOT mean you will be required to spend 30 - 45 minutes a day, in training sessions with your dog, for the rest of its life.  It means that when you see a little slippage in a desired behavior you will need to pay attention to the problem and address it.  A little training/refreshing will be in order.

The best news is that this process of paying attention to your dog, noticing behaviors and how they change, and training are FUN for both you and your dog!  So, go have fun.

How to train your puppy not to bite - - -

Fully one-third of all dogs do not even make it through the first year with their original owner. Irritating puppy behaviors often become intolerable habits when an owner does not address the behaviors early on.

Mouthing is a completely normal canine activity that often will not go away with age and can become harder and more painful to correct as adult teeth emerge.

All puppies bite, mouth, and challenge each other and their humans, but some much more than others. It is up to the owner to define the boundaries of acceptable behavior to the pup as soon as possible. Often the behavior will not "wear off" and if one doesn't do something about it before the adult teeth come in, the dogs may be 'relinquished' to another 'party'-
which means they will probably die.

The rule:

No teeth can touch the skin or clothing of a human.

Train an incompatible behavior:

When the pup licks, give it a name like "kisses" and encourage it with high-pitched praise. When the pup uses its teeth on you, make a loud abrupt and startling sound which is a mammalian 'interrupt'.

He will likely be so surprised that he will stop mouthing, momentarily at least. At the
instant he is not mouthing (ie. as soon as he stops), praise him as you do for licks. Timing
is everything. You want to extinguish the mouthing and replace it with licking.

Your reactions are:

Licking or 'not biting' --- lots of gooey praise.
Any teeth --- large startling sound right in his face.
At six weeks of age, the puppy should learn this lesson in only a few days if all individuals
who interact with him practice it consistently.

Justification:

The reason for replacing the mouthing with something else (i.e. licking) is because one cannotsimply suppress such strong innate behavior as mouthing. The mouthing may occur repetitively unless you 'train' an incompatible behavior. For example, you cannot lick and bite simultaneously without biting your tongue.

Sometimes force methods such as squeezing muzzles, ect. backfire in that they suppress
behavior for awhile but then it comes back full force at unexpected moments. You should use an interrupt action to stop the immediate behavior followed by a reward for
the cessation of the biting.

Train the humans:

Bite-inhibition is much harder to achieve if even one person allows the puppy to bite, so restrict access to those people who can implement the training method correctly.

Children, nine-years-old or younger, are probably not capable of performing this
procedure effectively and consistently, so caretakers should keep the younger kids and canines separated until the canine has been bite-inhibition trained by adults.

When the behavior of others weaken your own efforts, the dog can become confused.
Inconsistency can build frustration and avoidance behavior in canines which can lead to aggression.

Recruit puppy playmates:

It can also help if the pup has littermates or littermate substitutes to help him practice bite-inhibition as other pups are the best teachers of all. They will squeak and refuse to play if a pup's bite is too hard.

However, do not expect all adult dogs to correct this behavior since many will allow a much harder bite before correcting the puppy, if they correct at all.

Find a kindergarten puppy class. It is worth traveling for a good one. A good class would include off-leash puppy socialization in an enclosed area. The easiest way of all if it works:

With some dogs, simply ignoring the undesired behavior and giving NO feedback, either positive or negative, will eventually cause the canine to drop that behavior from their repertoire.This process is known as extinction. This approach may take a long time and it may be difficult for some people to ignore puppy mouthing for the duration.

Ann Dresselhaus
 

"How would you teach the emergency (distant) down?"

This is from an article I wrote which will be published later this year.

The first step here is to teach your dog to down on verbal command.  The next step comes after you have taught your dog to reliably respond to a verbal command to down.  Initially, you will start teaching a moving down with the dog facing you.  This can be done several ways, one way is provided here.  When walking (on lead) with the dog, pivot in front of the dog to stop forward movement and say ‘down.'  Be prepared to  immediately assist your dog - this is something the dog will probably not understand as the same exercise.
        After the dog is reliably responding to the command in this situation, start asking for a down while you are walking along side your dog.  Again, be prepared to immediately assist your dog into position.  Gradually increase the distance away from your dog, both facing the dog and not, that your dog will down on verbal command.
        After your dog will reliably down on command ten feet from you it is time to add distractions.  When you begin adding distractions, go back to the first step of the moving down - right in front or right alongside your dog.  Gradually increase the distance away from your dog with distractions.
        It is important that your dog is reliably responding at each step before you progress further.  Adding too many distractions or too much distance too soon will undermine all your efforts.  Each step is a building block and each block needs to be stable if the structure is going to be sound.

1. Age puppy should leave litter mates- 8 weeks was the response from 99% of people. Other issues- never under 7 weeks of age.  Small breed dogs can benefit if left with litter mates till up to 12 weeks. Main reason why pups were sold at an earlier age, more common in larger breeds, not wanting to spend time or money on food or Vet bills - irresponsible breeders!

2. Reasons why they should leave at a specific age?- Proper socialization in regards to teaching bite inhibition. It seems that some people do not have a specific age for them to leave as long as it is over 8 weeks.

3. Problems seen if removed before a specific age?- Puppies removed under 8 weeks of age showed a lack of bite inhibition and social skills, mainly in regards to other dogs, as they got older, this was a point everyone raised. Most mouthy pups were those removed from the litter under 7 weeks also leaving early can result in stress and doesn't allow the pup to learn to be a "dog".

4. Bite inhibition - affected by removing pup at a specific age?- 100% YES! if removed under 7 weeks. Everyone expressed concerns in regards to clients who had brought pups from breeders at a very early age who were very mouthy and didn't like to be handled.

5. Problems new owners faced, if any, if pup removed to early?- Again, Lack of bite inhibition, very mouthy, not like been handled, taking longer to adjust into new environment, difficulty getting through teenage years (5-11 months), difficulty dealing with other dogs, illness, not been able to read other dogs body language, these were the main points.

By leaving the pup in its pack structure for at least 8 weeks and doing all the right things in regards to bringing the pup up, doesn't always guarantee you will have a well trained/behaved member of the community.  Temperament is the number one ingredient that goes into having a great dog.  Temperament is the first thing I look at when selecting pups for clients.  You don't want a Mike Tyson living in your lounge room! JMHO.

I have an EXCELLENT cure for puppy mouthing and biting,  a friend of mine Dog Trainer, Madeline Gabriel sent it to me.

She uses a metal spoon to "hand" feed a dog or puppy.  She holds it up and slightly tilted down towards the dog so the dog has to lift its head and even rise up to reach it.  This puts the dog in the physical position of having its mouth open (like a baby bird).  If the dog or puppy just grabs
at the spoon/food, its teeth hit the metal.  After just a few repetitions, the dog learns how to just open his mouth as you tilt the spoon and drop
the food in.  Once the dog is good at this, you move your fingers closer so less of the spoon sticks out and it approximates hand feeding.  The idea is for the dog to learn to open his mouth and allow you to place the food inside without closing his mouth on your hand.

 This trick works as well with puppy biting hands......
I bend a cheap spoon handle over my thumb. Hold the bowl of the spoon in your hand. When the pup or dog chomps down, they hit metal. Have had luck with pups using bitter apple on my fingers so they will pull back and nibble the treat out of my hand which I click and re-treat. I have met several pups and dogs who are ever so gentle if you remember to give the "gentle" cue, but, if you don't, seem unchanged. Before going to the spoon or bitter apple, I usually go back to square one and retrain the behavior with the closed palm then open palm routine in areas of  increasing competition (presence of other dogs or other big distractions).

Hugs
Lynnie

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